Pathway to Sustainability in the Mining Industry: A Case Study of Alcoa and Rio Tinto

Shrivastava, Prasanna; Vidhi, Rachana

doi:10.3390/resources9060070

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…However, as this analysis considers only the capture of the solar resource (and not the manufacture of the necessary implements to do so), it is understood that it is a clean energy, which stands out exponentially when compared to energy from HCs: Resources that, as discussed above, cause a wide variety of environmental impacts, which irreversibly compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, endangering the EV of the AGBS system [6][7][8][72][73][74][75]79]. It is known that various reviews and studies are carried out around the world about EV (with varying degrees of analysis and accuracy, published or not), aiming at the diffuse goal of sustainable development and others such as the objectives of the millennium, as found in [18,19,21,22,31,32,34,80].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, through this kind of analysis, decision makers are equipped with one more tool to optimize the use of natural resources through sustainable development. Sustainable development is classically defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [3,6,[17][18][19][20][21][22]. Thus, this study analyzes, through EV, disturbances in the environment caused by anthropic activities for the production of energy resources, focusing on the power generation sector.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Issues in Energy Vulnerability Assessment: Looking for a Sustainable Choice of Natural Resource for Power Generation

Mein

Gimenes²,

Udaeta³

et al. 2020

The First World Energies Forum—Current and Future Energy Issues

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The objective of this work is to analyze, through environmental vulnerability (EV), disturbances in the environment caused by anthropic activities for the production of energy resources, focusing on the power generation sector. Methodologically, hydrocarbons (oil and gas) and solar are considered through a qualitative and quantitative analysis of environmental impacts, including the research in Environmental Impact Studies and procedures like EIA/RIMA (institutional Environmental Impact Reports in Brazil). This study focuses on operation and demobilization of offshore drilling activity, and installation and operation of the Santos Basin pre-salt oil and gas production and disposal activity Stages 1, 2, and 3. The criteria addressed in the EIA/RIMAs are used, focusing on those that correlate with EV and the production of electricity. Impacts for long-term, permanent, partially reversible, or irreversible disturbances are filtered, totaling 53 impacts (31 effective/21 potential). We concluded that the criteria and methodologies of EIAs vary between stages. At times, the variation is so drastic that the same impact can have a completely different rating from one stage to another, despite referring to the same area. This condition makes it impossible to define a single vulnerability index for the pre-salt venture. For a final analysis, we propose a cleaner energy production through distributed photovoltaic systems as a more adequate alternative for São Paulo’s energy supply in terms of its impact on EV.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Issues in Energy Vulnerability Assessment: Looking for a Sustainable Choice of Natural Resource for Power Generation

Mein

Gimenes²,

Udaeta³

et al. 2020

The First World Energies Forum—Current and Future Energy Issues

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The study [6] proved that sustainable development for mining companies is a critical requirement for their current operations. Therefore, the motivation of the authors of this study is due to the need to improve the quality of the assessment of MTS sustainability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Sustainable Open Pit Mining and Technical Systems: Concept, Principles, and Indicators

2021

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Sustainability of the open pit mining and technical system (MTS) is one of its key goals in the changing conditions of the external and internal environment. All MTS’s subsystems must function in concert to achieve this goal. The structure of the MTS is formed by many subsystems and elements, which are evaluated by a significant number of indicators. A comprehensive assessment of the MTS for all possible indicators is a complex and time-consuming task. However, each subsystem and element of the MTS has a different effect on the sustainability of this system. The MTS’s parameters change significantly during transition periods, for example, at a new stage of open-pit mining or when switching to an open-underground method of developing mineral deposits. The MTS’s sustainability declines during the transition periods. Changes in the parameters of technological processes during these periods can have a negative impact on the state of the economic and social subsystems of mining enterprises, as well as on the environment. Ensuring the sustainability of an MTS during transition periods requires the development of new approaches and principles for managing the work of mining enterprises, based on the alignment of economic goals, with goals in the field of ecology and social development. The study substantiates the key role of one of the MTS subsystems—the opening-up of an opencast system (OOS). It is shown that this system has a decisive influence on sustainable functioning and development. The systematization of the principles of sustainable functioning and development of mining enterprises and its systems has been carried out. Four groups of principles are distinguished: system-wide principles of management, principles of development of mining enterprises, principles of MTS development, and principles of the MTS’s subsystem development. The proposed system of principles is based on the idea of a sequential transformation of the subsystems at all stages of design and operation. A feature of the proposal system of principles is the consideration of economic, social, and environmental aspects to ensure the specified parameters for the sustainable functioning and development of mining enterprises. The results of the analysis of the factors of the external and internal environment of the MTS are presented. The parameters and indicators for assessing the sustainability of OOS and MTSs were selected and substantiated. The justified parameters and indicators were ranked using the fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results of the assessment showed a high convergence of expert opinions on a group of economic parameters, which were rather high in technical and technological parameters. However, there is a divergence of expert opinions on social and environmental parameters. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the current management decisions are aimed at ensuring the economic and technological sustainability of MTS functioning, while achieving the goals of sustainable development of this system is not ensured. The methodology developed and presented in the study can be used to assess the sustainability of the functioning and development of MTSs.

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“…Thus, with regard to the exploitation of natural resources, there are alternatives that can save the environmental factors studied above from these risks [2,3,10]. It is known that various reviews and studies are carried out around the world about environmental vulnerability (with varying degrees of analysis and accuracy, published or not), aiming at the diffuse goal of sustainable development and others such as the objectives of the millennium, as found in [13][14][15][16]25,26,28,61,62]. "Although modern society needs a series of petroleum products in order to be fully functional, coupled with this dependence, there must be a corresponding responsibility to manage these products effectively and safely in order to prevent environmental disasters" [60].…”

Section: Stagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, this kind of analysis can equip decision makers with one more tool to optimize the use of natural resources through sustainable development. Sustainable development is classically defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Thus, this study analyzes, through environmental vulnerability, disturbances in the environment caused by anthropic activities for the extraction of oil and gas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Vulnerability in Pre-Salt Oil and Gas Operations

Mein

Gimenes²,

Dias

et al. 2021

Energies

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The objective of this work is to analyze disturbances in the environment caused by anthropic activities in the oil and gas extraction sector. Methodologically, focusing on environmental vulnerability (EV), hydrocarbons (oil and gas) are considered through a qualitative and quantitative analysis of environmental impacts, including the research of Environmental Impact Studies and procedures like EIA/RIMA (institutional Environmental Impact Reports in Brazil). This study focuses on the operation and demobilization of the offshore drilling activity and the installation and operation of the Santos Basin pre-salt oil and gas production (Stages 1, 2, and 3). The criteria addressed in the EIA/RIMAs are used, focusing on those that correlate with EV and oil and gas extraction. Impacts for long-term, permanent, partially reversible, or irreversible disturbances are filtered, totaling 53 impacts (31 effective/21 potential). We concluded that the criteria and methodologies of EIAs vary between stages. At times, the variation is so drastic that the same impact can have a completely different rating from one stage to another, despite referring to the same area. This condition makes it impossible to define a single vulnerability index for the pre-salt venture. This work does not offer a concrete resolution, but exposes the EV issue and its inconsistencies.

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Pathway to Sustainability in the Mining Industry: A Case Study of Alcoa and Rio Tinto

Cited by 8 publications

References 17 publications

Issues in Energy Vulnerability Assessment: Looking for a Sustainable Choice of Natural Resource for Power Generation

Issues in Energy Vulnerability Assessment: Looking for a Sustainable Choice of Natural Resource for Power Generation

Sustainable Open Pit Mining and Technical Systems: Concept, Principles, and Indicators

Environmental Vulnerability in Pre-Salt Oil and Gas Operations

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